Three graduates from the MA Writing for Young People at Bath Spa Uni have moved one step closer to winning a prestigious award by each taking a place in the recently released longlist.
Maria Farrer, Clare Furniss and Giancarlo Gemin all appear on the longlist of 18 authors for the Branford Boase Award.
The Award focusses on debut authors and their editors to reward their combined efforts on a literary success.
Launched 15 years ago, the award has been given out every year and continues to be the top prize for any new author/editor team.
In 2014, Clare Furniss completed the MA Writing for Young People course at Bath Spa University having already completed a degree at Cambridge University.
Her MA manuscript, The Year of The Rat is published by Simon and Schuster.
Maria Farrer studied speech sciences at University College London and spent much of her life teaching, lecturing and working with students with language and literacy difficulties. She completed her MA in 2012, and her young adult novel ‘Broken Strings’, written on the MA, is published by Scholastic.
Giancarlo Gemin completed the MA Writing for Young People course in 2010. His novel Cowgirl, published by Nosy Crow, has also been nominated for the 2015 Carnegie Medal and the UKLA Book Awards long list.
The MA Writing for Young People course at Bath Spa University began in 2004 and has helped shape the landscape of children’s fiction, from picture books to young adult novels.
The success of these three debut authors follows that of Bath Spa University senior lecturer, Dr Lucy Christopher who won the Branford Boase Award in 2010 for her novel Stolen.
Course Director and author Julia Green said: “I am thrilled by this latest success for three of our alumni from the MA Writing for Young People.
“The course goes from strength to strength: more than twenty-five of our alumni are already successful published authors for children and teenagers.
“We’ve just celebrated our 10th birthday as a course. It is a testament to our great team of writer-lecturers, including Professor David Almond, Steve Voake and Lucy Christopher, as well as our brilliant students!”
The Branford Boase Award shortlist will be revealed on 15 May 2015, with the winner announced in July.
